In order to respond effectively to today’s complexity, speed of change, diversity, new technologies and globalization, you need a culture in which people expand into their greatest human potential. Gone are the days of telling employees what to do, how to think, motivating them and managing them. Today, your people need a healthy culture in which they feel and are encouraged to, own and share power and to create win/win dynamics in which power over and under becomes power within, between and for each other. Without this, projects fail, your people disengage, leave or do mediocre work.
Defining an Ideal Workplace Culture
The idea of a healthy workplace culture is analogous to healthy parenting. You could have 10 parents in a room and they each might have a very different idea of what constitutes healthy parenting.
The same is true for workplace culture models. That’s why I recommend a specific, shared power, responsibility-based TEAL culture model in which your people are conscious participants in the creation of the group dynamics and outcomes.
Implementing a Shared-Power Culture Model
In order to effectively implement such a shift, people need to be supported in reclaiming their power and using it intentionally for the good of all. In the past, culture and leadership skills and strategies were provided to only titled leaders and primarily through training.Today a set of common concepts, terms, tools and support processes must be adopted by every person in the workforce and in an immersive process consistent with adult learning principles and best practices from education proven to ensure complete comprehension, relevance, application and retention of new ways to think and act.
In a responsibility-based culture, each person learns to be purpose and values-based, to manage freedom AND responsibility, think critically so they are able to create new ideas on the fly. They must be flexible in leading and following as needs dictate, and know how to co-create and support psychological safety, high collaboration and trust. Only then do they experience healthy belonging and significance in which each one feels and acts empowered, lovable, connected and contributing. Only then do they fully engage.
With the right kind of culture and implementation, you can bring about a radical shift in your operations so that people are self-directed, internally motivated, socially and emotionally intelligent and responsible for managing their relationships, productivity, engagement and progress. Without the right kind of culture model and implementation, organizations slip behind and experience too many disengaged people, failed projects, staff turnover and lost opportunities.
Bottom line is that the change needed to meet an increasingly complex world requires a new kind of culture and implementation in which you can release outdated practices tying you to the status quo. As you build a caring community and promote initiative in your people, together they meet the moment now and later. As you shift from outdated culture models dependent upon hierarchy and external motivation, to one that expands human potential, your people will contribute to your highest purpose, values and visions!
